Farming: The answer lies in the soil, says JHI

The James Hutton Institute re-launched its Best Soil in Show competition at the Highland show last week – and is calling for entries from across Scotland.

“Everything in our lives is underpinned by soil — our food, our homes, our biodiversity, the water we drink, and so much more,” said JHI chief executive, Colin Campbell.

“Best Soil in Show highlights the importance of maintaining healthy soils to deliver biological, ecological and ultimately economic benefits and raising awareness amongst land managers to understand the characteristics and condition of their soil will help towards making informed decisions about its management.”

The competition will see farmers and land managers from across the country enter samples - with soil scientists at the JHI judging entries on compositional, structural and chemical criteria. The winner will be announced on World Soil Day, 5th December 2022.

The competition is being supported by NFU Scotland, with union president, Martin Kennedy among the first to get his samples in.

“Faced with extreme volatility in input costs, good soil health becomes increasingly important in the delivery of sustainable, productive, and profitable farming systems,” said Kennedy.

He said good soil health had becomes increasingly important in the delivery of sustainable, productive, and profitable farming systems – with farmers being encouraged to carry out a proper assessment of their soils through the Scottish Government’s Track 1 initiative., with the values of Best Soil in Show being closely aligned with this.